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U.S. may plan offensive in Afghanistan By STEPHEN GRAHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER KABUL, Afghanistan -- Thousands of U.S. soldiers are preparing an operation against Taliban insurgents to preempt an expected spring offensive which could upset plans for Afghan parliamentary elections, a senior American general said in an interview Tuesday. The operation will begin within days of the Dec. 7 inauguration of Hamid Karzai as Afghanistan's first directly elected president - an event that itself is a potential target, Maj. Gen. Eric Olson told The Associated Press. "There could be an unhappy coincidence between the enemy's spring offensive and the parliamentary...